Timber Funds Reminder

Back in May, we found out that there would be one more year of timber funds--county payments and O&C funding.  Just a reminder...

The Bureau of Land Management announced Tuesday that the final timber payment was made to 18 western Oregon counties.

What are the hopes that this isn't the final payment?  The following is from late September...

U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Springfield) today lauded passage of the Public Land Communities Transition Act of 2007, legislation that would reauthorize the successful "county payments" law for an additional four years. The legislation, HR 3058, was introduced in July by DeFazio and Rep. Nick Rahall, Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. During today's mark-up DeFazio offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute to reduce the cost of the bill and to change the offsets used to fund the bill. The bill was approved by a voice vote.

"The county payments program is the lifeblood of rural counties across America who serve as stewards of our federal lands," DeFazio said. "These rural counties cannot continue to survive indefinitely in crisis mode. They need certainty, and they need time to transition and plan how they're going to operate with reduced federal assistance. This legislation accomplishes that goal."

...

The bill is based on the Wyden formula originally offered earlier this year. That proposal, mirrored in H.R. 3058, is a multi-year reauthorization of the county payments program, ramps down funding for the program 10% per year, while ramping up the Payments-in-Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program during the same four year timeframe. 

In response to testimony during a July hearing on HR 3058, DeFazio made several changes to the bill, and today offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute to address those concerns. First, the substitute made several changes in the bill to reduce the overall cost of the legislation. Those changes include extending the Secure Rural Schools program through 2011 rather than 2012, which will result in a cost saving of $761 million. The substitute also ramps up PILT payments over three years, rather than to immediately fully fund PILT. This change will result in a cost saving of about $112 million.

The text of the bill is here.  The 32 co-sponsors include Oregon's other four representatives.  After the above action, HR 3058 was forwarded to the House Agriculture Committee, where it currently remains.  The bill, estimated to cost $2.7 billion over four years, will be paid for with fees from Outer Continental Shelf oil & gas leases.

Yes, thanks to the continued inability of the feds and environmentalists to find compromise, we may soon be getting our timber funds from fossil fuels, not the harvesting of a renewable resource (which could also reduce the fire risk).  Sadly, that's probably the best that we timber counties can hope for any time soon.

Comments

[Mike]

Super post. Great sleuthing. Will highlight on my site.